High School

MANCHESTER -- Thomaston shocked us again, and nearly pulled off a cross country miracle. The Cheshire girls left their coach speechless, nearly. And Kennedy's John Ducham flew like an Eagle, and lives to race another day.

The State Open cross country championships Sunday at Wickham Park were 5,000 meters of speed and agony. It is the final race of the season, and area runners did indeed save their best races for last, at least, their last race on a Connecticut course.

In the girls race five area runners and one team, Cheshire, qualified to run again in the New England meet Saturday at the Twin Brook Recreation Area in Cumberland, Maine. For the boys, another five also qualified.

But the drama centered around the Thomaston girls. After the state champion was crowned, Brianna Lenehan of NFA, in 19:09, it was all about the Bears. The Thomaston girls put three runners in the top 12, led first by Cameron Chaplen in fifth place in 19:28, followed by Sabrina Olsen (eighth, 19:40), and Becky Perugini (12th, 19:47).

No other school in the girls or boys races, not even state champion Ridgefield for the girls or New Milford for the boys, matched Thomaston's finishes at the top.

"Deep down inside, this is what I have always dreamed," said Chaplen, who the Class S championship one week ago, "but I never in a million years thought it would come true. We ran our hearts out."

Perugini seemed the most stunned by her run to 12th place, which came because of a 30-second drop form her previous best time this season, on any course let alone a hilly Wickham, with its famous Green Monster hill.

"We were talking with each other, from different teams," Perugini explained, "and helping each other pull along. I think that is one of the reasons that I pulled up that much."

Another factor that fired up the Bears was an injury to a teammate. Olsen said that the team found out Friday evening that a key runner, freshman Sammi Breier, would not compete in the Open due to injury. The ultimate goal for the Bears was to qualify for the New England meet as a team.

"We knew we lost one of our top girls," Olsen said. "We came in knowing that we had to push that much harder."

But the team fell short of its New England goal. Only the top six advance as a team, and both Thomaston and Pomperaug, with 257 points, tied for seventh. The team that slipped past both to qualify was Cheshire, with 241 points, much to the surprise of the coach, Rob Schaefer.

"I am bubbling right now," said Schaefer, "because, first of all, I graduated four of my top five runners from last year. We thought this was a rebuilding year. An outside dream was to even compete here at the Open, and these kids, with total inexperience, rose to the occasion and finished sixth in the state and qualified for New Englands."

Coaches hope their runners peak at the Open meet, and as Schaefer noted, "They did more than that."

Leading the Rams was Kimberly Grove, who ran 47th overall (20:42), but for runners scoring for team points, she was 31st, just ahead of teammates Kathleen Kalbain and Hannah Purtell (both in 20:47).

Also qualifying for the New England were Stephanie Deccy of Lewis MIlls (17th, 19:53), and Brittany Mendelson of Pomperaug (21st, 20:07).

In the boys race, Henry Wynne of Staples (15:49) was the favorite, and he ran like it, and five local runners will join him at the New England meet. Mill's Kevin Sullivan ran sixth, in 16:29. Also qualifying was Jonah Riolo of Nonnewaug (11th, 16:40), Quinton Hoey of Watertown (13th, 16:42), Logan Ross of Shepaug Valley (22nd, 16:47), and, the happiest runner of all at Wickham, John Ducham of Kennedy.

The senior missed the New England race in 2011 by 15 seconds. His goal was to run top 25 so that he could run again. But even Ducham was stunned when he crossed the finish line in eighth place, in 16:34.

"The big goal was to make New Englands," Ducham said. "I've been training harder than I ever had in my life, and I just wanted to get up these hills. I have always wanted top 15, to show that I am one of the best runners in the state."

Sullivan, the Class M champion, came in with much the same goal as Ducham: Get top 25 and go to New Englands, and maybe run top 10.

"Sixth is beyond my goal," he said. "Everyone says the Open goes out fast, but I don't remember it that fast. I was in the middle of the front pack, and worked my way up. I went out harder than I wanted, but the result was better than I ever thought."

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